With the increasing use of the internet as the medium for communication including voice communication, there exists a market for voice communication over the internet which is easy and simple to deploy in the existing data networks. As the speed of data transfer over the internet has increased rapidly, so too have applications which take advantage of the higher data transfer rate over the data networks.
For example, using a traditional dial up modem, a data transfer to permit voice communications has faced many technical challenges. With the mass deployment of broadband in consumer data networks over the internet as well as in corporate settings such as in Local Area Networks (LANs) or Wide Area Networks (WANs), communications requiring high speed data transfer is increasingly becoming a realistic tool for users.
In a typical data network (for example, in a corporate data network setting) deploying Voice over IP (Internet Protocol) telephones (hereinafter referred to as VOIP phones), VOIP phones generally are connected between a computer terminal at the location where the VOIP phone is situated, and the data network (for example, the corporate LAN). As such, data transfer between the computer terminal and the data network typically passes through the VOIP phone connected therebetween.
The initial setup procedures for VOIP phones in such data networks can be quite challenging. For example, in such data network environments, there are many automatic protocols that allow the configuration of each device that is connected to the respective data network. Otherwise, each device to function properly in the data network must be individually configured with the proper protocols, and the like. For example, a typical VOIP phone configuration procedure may include communicating with the DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server service in the data network that functions to allocate the IP addresses and allows the advanced configuration of network settings such as DNS servers, for example. In this manner, the VOIP phone operating as a DHCL client, may automatically receive the IP address from the DHCP server which is configured to automatically assign the proper IP address for each DHCP client connected to the data network. In this manner, the various devices connected to the data network may communicate without substantial data collision or conflict issues.
Most if not all VOIP phones presently commercially available include a user interface display which can be used to configure the VOIP phone. For example, the VOIP phone includes various input command buttons (for example, a touch sensitive screen input pad, or traditional telephone buttons, to name a few) which, when operated, display the corresponding output command or result on the display unit of the VOIP phone to permit a user to properly configure the VOIP phone for use in the data network.
Unfortunately, the configuration of the VOIP phone to be operationally in the data network becomes very challenging, if not practically impossible, without the display screen on the VOIP phone. Indeed, by reviewing the input commands as well as the output commands shown in the display screen of the VOIP phone allows a user to confirm and verify the various protocols and input settings unique to the VOIP phone so as to be functional in the data network.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method and a system which would allow configuration of VOIP phones that do not have a display screen in a data network. Additionally, it would be desirable to have a method and a system which would allow configuration of the VOIP phones in an environment which does not include a DHCP server service that would assign the proper IP address to the VOIP phones in the data network.